


Keep The Lights On (For Me)

by Kin_Cryptid



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: More tags to be added as continued, PTSD, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 18:32:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18834328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kin_Cryptid/pseuds/Kin_Cryptid
Summary: Set after the episode 'Haunted'. Robin finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a downwards spiral that he couldn't shake, losing sleep and on constant watch, a heavy tiredness that he couldn't explain settling in his bones and eyes. He no longer took his mask off - the first time he'd seen them in a long while, he'd felt like he was looking at a complete stranger, eyes hollow and empty, dulled irises and without the normal gleam they held. Slowly but surely, the hallucinations return, but is he ready to tell the other Titans?





	Keep The Lights On (For Me)

As Robin made his way to the kitchen area of the T Tower, he lifted a green, gloved hand and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a scowl - he’d fallen asleep at the monitors. Again. It was frustrating, to say the very least - who knows what he could have missed in the brief two hours or so that he had been unconscious? Luckily for him, his mask hid the ever darkening bags beneath his eyes and hid the dull, hunted look in his eyes. He inhaled sharply, holding it for several seconds before he exhaled slowly through his nostrils - he just needed some coffee, was all. Maybe one of those little caffeine pills wouldn’t hurt, either. Rubbing at the bridge of his nose, he turned from the hall and entered the kitchen, intent on making himself a batch of black coffee - it wasn’t the greatest taste in the world, but it did the trick.

However, as he took in the scene around him, he noticed something seemed off - Cyborg wasn’t being pestered by Beast Boy about his tofu, instead cooking bacon on a skillet as he hummed a song to himself, eyes shut. Normally, Robin would have reprimanded him for keeping his eyes shut while handling such a hazardous utensil, but the uneasy feeling that was crawling up his spine kept him from saying anything as he tried to observe just what was wrong. Usually, Beast Boy was up by now, and that would usually be the first thing to wake Raven, and finally, Starfire would awaken and meet them in the kitchen with overjoyed greetings and good mornings, but today, it was quiet, besides Cyborg’s little song. He told himself that it was nothing, forcing himself to relax with a heavy sigh as he walked over to the counter, ready to begin brewing his coffee.

He didn’t make it that far as his vision was suddenly bombarded with orange and black, an empty eye socket staring him in the face as his heart rate skyrocketed. On instinct, he ignored the yelling and threw an explosive bird-a-rang directly at the mask, flipping backwards and landing in a crouch as he awaited his opponents next move, the blood pumping through him roaring in his ears as the edges of his vision blurred. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a sputtering Beast Boy waving away the remaining cloud, coughing, the mask skidding onto the floor before Robin and facing up at him. For a brief moment, he felt frozen as he stared back at the empty mask, all complaints from Beast Boy going straight over his head. It wasn’t until a heavy hand fell on his shoulder that he finally moved, flinching violently out of their grasp and turning to face them with a defensive stance, breath coming in ragged pants.

“Hey, man,” Cyborg started, releasing his shoulder and starting to come a little closer, but stopped abruptly at the cornered body language Robin was displaying. “You alright?” 

For some reason unknown to him, his foggy mind was unable to register the simple sentence until moments later, a brief, brisk nod being his only response as he turned and walked from the kitchen and down the hallway, fists clenched at his sides and his stance rigid as his vision and hearing began to blur into a singular sense that he couldn’t comprehend other than static. After a while, he slowly came to his senses as they sorted themselves out, finding himself standing in his room and staring down the wall. An inexplicable anger made him grind his teeth together, a snarl leaving his throat as the urge to tear up every bit of research he had pinned to the walls rose in his chest. He quickly swallowed it, however, sitting down on his cot of a bed and staring at the door, fingers clasped together tightly as he gazed blankly ahead - what was that? That hadn’t happened to him before - at least, he didn’t think it had happened before. The only logical explanation would be an adrenaline rush - that must have been why his heart was still racing, his breaths still having yet to even out.


End file.
